I attempted something that was fraught with danger and even had the potential to destroy my marriage: I took my family camping. The kids were beyond excited and talked about it for weeks. When I pulled them out of school they were literally jumping with joy.
DeAndra said she had never gone camping "for real" and was definitely hesitant. We drove past Mazama (about two hours away) and found a spot at Lone Fir.
The kids immediately began exploring nature and finding ways to get dirty.
Right away a large doe walked through the camp in front of Jens. She was impressed.
DeAndra made sure to keep things fancy with a nice tablecloth.
We took the kids up to Rainy Lake hoping to hike into the lake. All we heard over the winter is that there wasn't any snow in the mountains. Well, that was a big fat lie because there was about three to four feet of snow still on the ground.
The kids weren't really complaining about the snow.
It was pretty nice to play in the white stuff since it was over 70 outside.
When we got back to camp we got the fire going to warm everyone back up.
Jeff and Kendra came with us which was nice to help DeA ease into the camping spirit.
Kendra made tinfoil dinners while the kids loaded up on s'mores and hot dogs.
Ryker has one rule when roasting marshmallows, and it's hilarious.
Rock needs constant entertainment and camping was a little too chill for his liking at first.
Jens loved everything about the trip, especially the food.
We made apple cobbler in the skillet, it was popular with the adults. The kids weren't very interested after eating a kiloton of s'mores.
The first night was full of perfect things: warm weather, delicious food, good company and no bugs. DeA was slowly becoming hooked to this camping thing.
We searched for ways to keep Rock busy, one popular project was to try and split this big log for the fire.
For breakfast we threw together biscuits and gravy. Everything tastes better while camping and this was no exception. Well, at least I thought it was great, picky Rock was less enthused.
While breakfast was going the kids were forced to find things to do. I think Ryker is surfing on the shovel or something.
Jens helped Rock devise a plan for the log.
DeA has never been a fan of biscuits and gravy so she cooked pancakes over the fire. She didn't admit it but she was secretly enjoying the pioneer cooking.
The dutch oven biscuits looked ugly but tasted buttery delicious.
Ryker ate pancakes, eggs and biscuits and gravy. He was happy to eat anything he could find.
Twisp had a bike safety rodeo later in the morning so we packed up the hogs and headed into town.
I don't know what her problem was, but I can only imagine it had to do with a lack of food.
DeA was really getting in the spirit of things and didn't even wash her face when it got dirty.
The bike rodeo was pretty fun and well put together. The only problem was Rock hit a goat head right before we left the campsite. He still did all the events with a completely blown tire.
We took the kids to a restaurant for lunch (well, that was mostly to let DeA have some "real" food). The little ones were getting pretty worn out by this point of the trip.
There was a playground next to the parking lot and we weren't allowed to leave until the kids had their time.
She tried so hard to keep up with her brothers. So very, very hard and eventually she completely crashed.
After a little down time (which Rock allowed only after many, many threats) we took the campers hiking on a trail out of the camp.
They were equal parts excited and exhausted which turned out to be a volatile combination.
Thee's a really cool log bridge at the end of the trail over a creek. We let them cross it with us carefully.
They were pretty proud of themselves for making it over the 'scary' bridge.
They aren't hugging, Jens is trying to see if she could carry Ryker across the bridge.
They were natural campers and hikers.
Eventually DeA stopped the charade and admitted that camping was pretty fun.
Jens really, really loved the trip.
The campground had a pretty epic view that made resting in the tent special.
He gave up on the big log and moved on to an easier target.
Another way that we kept Rock busy was to play 500 and/or catch. Ryker enjoyed it, too.
Dinner the second night was a Whatchagot stew kind of meal. The kids still loved it.
Rock was really tired but made sure no one could tell.
At least he was happy and they all played well together.
I didn't tell him to do this, he just knows what's up.
This pretty much sums up Rock: his siblings are passed out, exhausted while he just keeps staying awake.
Jens and DeA both like to wake up slowly in the mornings and loved cuddling in the sleeping bag.
It rained all night the second night and in the morning DeA told me we couldn't make breakfast. I asked why and she said we couldn't build a fire because everything was wet. Yeah, that's how little confidence she has in my outdoor skills. As you can plainly see there is a healthy, robust fire cooking the kids' breakfast.
They took turns cooking their pancakes, some just used more attitude than others.
Clearly she loved her weekend.
The campground had nice USFS bathrooms that were clean but had a hole in the toilet. On the third day we realized that Ryker hadn't gone poop the whole trip because he was worried that he'd fall in. He was in pain that I had to walk him into the woods and dig a hole. He found the sweet relief that comes when you can vacate your bowels. I realized too late that Jens followed up and was watching while finishing her breakfast.
You can tell it was a fun trip because the kids look dirty, worn out and exhausted.
